The present invention broadly relates to cabins for accommodating passengers and, more specifically, pertains to a new and improved construction of a passenger car or gondola for transport apparatuses or media.
Generally speaking, the cabin of the present invention is for accommodating passengers of a transport medium, such as a gondola lift or aerial cable railway or the like, and comprises a doorway, at least one door member for closing the doorway and a guide means associated with each door member for translatably guiding the door member. The cabin of the present invention also comprises a sensing member for sensing the control members of the stations, door actuating means operatively connected with the sensing member for opening the door member when entering a station and for closing the door member when departing a station and means defining a vertical pivot axis. The door actuating means has at least one pivot arm pivotably mounted to the cabin to pivot about the vertical pivot axis. The pivot arm comprises a vertical pin and is hinged to the door member by the vertical pin. The cabin of the present invention also comprises a floor structure, a roof structure, a structural frame connecting the floor structure with the roof structure, two mutually opposite sidewalls and two mutually opposite end walls arranged between the floor structure and the roof structure and a doorway formed in at least one of the sidewalls. Each of the sidewalls meets each of the end walls at edge regions thereof and profiled section members extend along these edge regions and serve to join the sidewalls with the end walls. The end walls are convexly curved.
Passenger cars or gondolas for transport media, namely aerial cable railways, are known from the Swiss Pat. Nos. 569,603, No. 603,398 and No. 626,842, which comprise a cabin with a floor, two sidewalls, two end walls and a roof. Swiss Pat. No. 569,603 corresponds to U.S. Pat. No. 3,871,324 and Swiss Pat. No. 626,842 corresponds to U.S. Pat. No. 4,327,648. One sidewall of such gondolas is provided with a door opening which is closeable with a one or two leaved door. The door leaves are either pivotable about a pivot axis which is stationary with respect to the gondola cabin or else is translatable along a horizontal guide rigidly mounted on the gondola cabin. Control members are arranged at the stations of such transport media. The gondolas are equipped with sensing members with which they can sense these control members. These sensing members are in operative connection with the door leaves by means of an actuating device so that the door leaves are automatically opened when arriving in a station and are automatically closed again when departing.
If the door leaves are pivotable about a pivot axis which is stationary with respect to the gondola and, when opening in a station, are opened outwardly, they swing relatively far out into the station. Spatial requirements of the stations are thus increased and measures must be taken in order that the automatically opening door leaves do not injure any of the passengers waiting in the station.
In those known cabins in which the door leaves are translatable in relation to the gondola cabin, the sidewalls delimiting the door opening are equipped with guides for the door leaves. The door leaves and their guides must be at least partially arranged on the exterior of the sidewall. It is then difficult to protect the guides against climatic influences and, especially in aerial cable railways for winter operation, against snow and ice. When the door leaves are situated on the exterior of the sidewalls, their edges form shoulders in relation to the sidewalls which increase wind resistance, which has a disadvantageous effect, especially in strong winds. Furthermore, sliding door leaves situated on the exterior of the sidewalls increase the width of the gondola cabins. A greater width of the gondola, however, in turn increases spatial requirements in the stations and for their storage, i.e. accommodation of the gondolas during off seasons.
The apparatus for automatically opening and closing the door leaves is accommodated mainly in the floor portion of the gondola cabin in known gondolas and requires relatively much space in floor plan. For instance, in the gondola known from the Swiss Pat. No. 603,398, which comprises translatable door leaves, this apparatus extends over the entire width of the gondola. This makes it, difficult or impossible to provide a desirable vertical central support anchored in the floor in the middle of the gondola and extending therefrom to the roof.
In the gondolas known from the previously mentioned patents, the gondola cabins comprise a structural framework and an external sheathing, wherein the sidewalls are formed by essentially vertical planes. The gondolas therefore present a high wind resistance to side winds and are therefore strongly deflected by side winds and excited to lateral oscillations or swinging motion. If a gondola having vertical, planar sidewalls is deflected transversely to the direction of travel by wind action or by motions of the passengers, the bottoms of the sidewalls are moved laterally beyond the normal position of the sidewalls. In order that this not cause damage or become dangerous, the entry buffers of the stations and other related dimensions must be made relatively generous.
The gondola cabins of the gondolas known from the previously cited patents comprise a structural framework and an external sheathing. In the gondola according to the Swiss Pat. No. 626,842, both sidewalls comprise profiled section members extending along their edges which are welded together at their abutting locations. In the doorless sidewall, these profiled section members form a closed framework. In the sidewall provided with a door opening, the profiled section member extending along the lower wall edge is interrupted in the region of the door opening. The roof comprises a structural frame which is formed from profiled section members extending along its edges and welded together at their abutting locations. The profiled section members of the roof frame extending along the sidewalls are screwed to the profiled section members forming the upper edges of the sidewalls. The bearing structure of the floor is also partially formed from profiled section members welded or screwed together. Both end walls comprise a horizontal profiled section member at their lower edge on whose ends profiled section members are welded which extend along the end wall side edges about up to the half height of the cabin. The profiled section members of the end walls are screwed to the floor, respectively to the profiled section members of the sidewalls. The fabrication of this gondola cabin requires a relatively great variety of profiled section members and other components as well as a relatively great amount of welding work, while the screwing of the profiled bars is also time-consuming. The fabrication and assembly of this gondola is therefore relatively material and labor-intensive.